Short Children May Have Higher Stroke Risk in Adulthood

Increased risk seen for ischemic stroke in both sexes, intracerebral hemorrhage in men

(HealthDay News) -- Short stature at 7 to 13 years is significantly associated with increased risks in adulthood of ischemic stroke (IS) in both sexes and intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) in men, according to a study published online in Stroke.

Line Klingen Gjærde, MD, from the University of Copenhagen in Denmark, and colleagues evaluated data from a cohort of Danish schoolchildren born between 1930 and 1989 (with height measured from 7 to 13 years) in order to investigate the associations of childhood stature and growth with risks of adult IS and ICH.

The researchers found that of the 311,009 individuals in the cohort, 10,412 were diagnosed with IS and 2,546 with ICH. There was a significant inverse association between height at 7 years and IS in both sexes (women: hazard ratio [HR], 0.89; men: HR, 0.9) and with ICH in men (HR, 0.89) but not in women. At older childhood ages, the associations were similar. There were no statistically significant associations for growth from 7 to 13 years and IS or ICH.

"Growth during this period of childhood is not significantly associated with either of these stroke subtypes, suggesting that underlying mechanisms linking height with risks of stroke may exert their influence already by early childhood," the authors write.